So as 2018 comes to a close, I find myself looking over the past year, weighing it and comparing it to other years. All in all, I'd say it was a pretty good year. It was not without its downsides, such as my mom breaking her ankle after falling on the ice in January and helping her convalesce. I also lost a very dear family friend this year. He was basically a step father to me, and was actually a big part of why I got so much into guns, and was very influential in my life. I miss him and will continue to do so.

On the plus side, I finally got the position at work that I've wanted since going through the academy (although I don't officially start in that position until July). And perhaps most importantly, after a miscarriage in 2017 and a bit of a struggle trying to conceive afterwards, my wife and I welcomed my daughter Kady Browning ... CHEG into the world in December. I really don't feel like I've changed as much as people said I would, and I certainly haven't turned into mush, but I would definitely say that my life has grown. Im moreso looking forward to the future as my daughter becomes more interactive and becomes more of a person in her own right. I am fascinated by her though and love how happy she makes my wife and everyone around us.

So all in all as I take stock in 2018 I would say it's been a good year. There were some setbacks and I regret very deeply that my "adoptive" stepfather missed seeing my daughter by about 2 months, and that I didn't get to say goodbye in person. I feel like I've grown closer and even more in love with my wife, I've found job satisfaction that has been missing for a while now and I have a new found fascination for new life. I feel like I've made some positive impacts in my volunteer efforts and have had some setbacks there too, but have ha de more ups than downs there too. I always find myself a bit melancholy this time of year, and often slightly depressed that another year has gone by. However, when I take accounting of the year I find myself more thankful than most years, and looking forward to the future more than most years, and for good reasons and not just wanting to get past the bad parts of the previous year. So how about everyone else?

Growing closer to your wife and finding job satisfaction would be achievements in their own right. Doing both in one year, along with having a new child? I'd say you pretty much rocked 2018.

My goal for every new year is to always try to notice and appreciate the little things in life.

All I can say about 2018 is at least it didn't manage to kill me.

Both my wife and I finished the year healthy and at our age that is a big plus.

No new big bills to pay off. I got out of the stock market altogether a while back so I slept just fine without worrying what the market was going to do the next day.

We filled the pantry with our canned harvest from the garden. The best yield we've had in a long time. Bring on the comet, we'll eat just fine.

All in all a pretty good year and Clinton still isn't my President.

Jim

A great year for the wifey and I. The kids still drop by (mostly unannounced) and they bring their pets with them. Family is cool as hell. Love the grand kids and dogs.

2018 was an awesome, excellent year.

Last January, almost to the day a year ago, my wife and I drove at 2am the hell out of CA straight to Texas. Hectic months of apartment living, storage units, house hunting and purchasing. Job hunting for the wife (she got one in 2 weeks), redesigning my company. New car, furniture, rugs, wall hangings, etc. Met new friends, reacquainted with old ones. Saw one of my bucket list concerts, Electric Light Orchestra in Dallas.

Woke up every morning knowing Trump is POTUS, and that everyday, leftists are going nuts. Kavanaugh in the SCOTUS.

2018 was awesome

From Christmas 2017 through the end of 2018 I lost 5 First Cousins and the husbands of 2 others. I am now the oldest Cousin in one branch and 3rd oldest in the other (and the other 2 are in very poor health). Lots of funerals, and I was only able to attend about half of them.

However, I think the country is doing fairly well and would like to see the Trump Revolution continue. Unfortunately, the takeover of the House by the Democrats will put a halt to much of it, I'm afraid.

flashguy

Well there were some ups and downs. Over all one of my best years. Work was steady, got married to an awesome woman, and became debt free except my mortgage as of last week.

Excellent year.

2018 couldn't have been a worse year for me.

The first half was spent with my mom having a serious illness that kept her more or less bedridden and that doctors could not diagnose. After a difficult visit to a Mayo Clinic specialist, a grim diagnosis was made. In June, my mom passed away. 3 months later, my father appeared to have a stroke, and after several weeks of rehab, he had another seizure. This time they realized he didn't have a stroke originally but that he had an abcess in the brain that required surgery. The effects are similar to a stroke affecting that part of the brain, hence the original misdiagnosis - slurred speech, inability to use his left side, etc. He is still recovering. Then to top it off, my dad's brother, who had been battling a couple different illnesses took a turn for the worse. The doctors decided that treatment for each condition would worsen the other conditions, so he was sent to hospice care, where he slipped into a coma and passed away on Christmas day.

So all in all, fuck 2018.

I'm ready for 2019.

Pretty good year for me. No catastrophies.

The worst was probably the stock market, and even that's not too bad. My net worth is down a ton from the market high, but in reality I'm starting 2019 with only about $12,000 less than what I started with in 2018.